THE KITCHENER-WATERLOO
Software Quality Association
KWSQA Conference
APRIL 22, 2009
St George Hall, Waterloo
Conference Speakers
We have lined up a great number of speakers this year to talk about topics such as Management, Automation,
Tools and Techniques and more! Below is a listing of our current speakers.
Fiona Charles
Fiona Charles is a Toronto-based test project manager and consultant. With 30 years experience in software development and integration projects, she has managed testing and consulted on testing on many projects for clients in retail, banking, financial services, health care, and telecommunications.
Through her company, Quality Intelligence, Fiona works with clients to design and implement pragmatic testing and test management practices that match their unique business challenges.
Fiona is on the board of the Toronto Association of Systems and Software Quality, and co-founder and organizer of the Toronto Workshop for Software Testing, an annual invitational conference for senior test practitioners. She edited The Gift of Time (Dorset House, 2008), is a frequent contributor to StickyMinds.com and Better Software magazine, and presents regularly on testing and test management topics at conferences. Contact Fiona via her website: www.quality-intelligence.com.
Neil Price-Jones
Neil founded NVP Software Testing in 1993. Neil has a M.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Guelph and his MBA from York University. He is currently working toward a PhD in Mathematics. Neil has been working in the Quality Assurance industry for 22 years. Prior to establishing NVP, Neil worked in the testing departments of several major banks and a software development company. Neil is a regular speaker at National and International conferences and faithfully attends profession-related meetings.
Sam Mathi
Sam Mathi is a Software Engineer with over 25 years experience in software development, as a Senior Developer, Test Manager and now Test Automation Consultant, Sam holds an Engineering Degree from the University of Waterloo and has worked with the HP Mercury tools since 1996. Sam has worked on numerous test automation projects in dozens of industries throughout Canada and the United States.
Scott McKnight
Scott McKnight is a Quality Assurance Manager currently specializing in business solutions at Open Text. Scott joined Open Text in October 1996 as a Quality Assurance Analyst and spent his first 6 years testing the searching and indexing technologies within Livelink. Scott started on a management track in 2002 and has worked in multiple functional areas and in teams of varying sizes since that time. Scott has experience working with various software development and testing methodologies and is always looking to expand on this experience.
Debra Forsyth
Debra is the Quality Assurance Practice Lead and a Senior QA Consultant with ObjectSharp Consulting. As QA Practice Lead, Debra is an experienced Visual Studio Team System and Test Edition instructor and consultant, providing training and support to clients. Debra is skilled in the design and execution of comprehensive Quality Assurance processes/procedures, with proven qualifications in test life cycle, strategy/plan, case/data design, risk assessment, functional/performance automated tools implementation, environment set up, defect and configuration management. As well Debra has a Computer Programming Certificate from Sheridan College, and is experienced with IBM/Rational Test Suite and Compuware products. Debra currently participates in Microsoft’s Inner Circle meetings for all Visual Studio Team System Edition for Tester’s related products.
Dave Lloyd
Dave Lloyd is a senior partner and co-founder of ObjectSharp. He has over 20 years experience in the IT industry designing and building software solutions for a large number of clients in varying industies. Dave is skilled in the Architecture, Design and Development of Databases and Distributed Applications. Dave also brings to the table over 17 years of teaching experience. Dave has taught classes including Development, Test Methodology and Configuration Management.
Selena Delesie
Selena is a Waterloo-based test manager and coach. With 7 years experience in leading, managing, motivating, and mentoring test teams, she finds appropriate solutions for test management challenges with hands-on software test and project management expertise. Selena enjoys working with a variety of test methodologies, solving technical-people-process challenges, coaching and empowering people for success, and working with others to create a vision and drive it to success and completion. Having been on the KWSQA board for three years, she continues her role from last season as the KWSQA President/Chair. Selena has worked on a variety of projects in wireless, mobile, media, telematics, web services, billing, and speech technologies. She is currently the Software Test Manager at Intelligent Mechatronic Systems in Waterloo.
Jeremy Kominar
Jeremy Kominar has over 6 years experience in Software Quality Assurance. His studies at the University of Guelph have allowed him to combine two diverse fields, Computer Science and Fine Arts, in his approach to testing. At Research in Motion Limited, Jeremy currently leads a team of security software testers responsible for quality of BlackBerry® Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) software components. Jeremy’s tenure at RIM and experiences in the industry has exposed him to many testing processes and paradigms that he leverages within his team. In his spare time, Jeremy practices his prestidigitation and other acts of adroitness.
Adam Goucher
Adam Goucher has been testing software professionally for over ten years. In that time he has worked with start-ups, large multi-nationals and ones in between. Currently he is the Manager of Quality at Zerofootprint Software, a carbon calculation and offsetting organization. He also teaches testing at a Toronto technical school and is an active member of the Association for Software Testing. Contact Adam through his website: adam.goucher.ca.
Mark Meninger
Mostly self-taught, Mark Meninger has been working in various software testing capacities since 1999. Mark has had designing, developing and implementing test automation solutions for the past 5 years. Mark is currently Automation and Security Testing Manager of the SV&V Handheld team at Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry™. Mark’s responsibility is to help implement a cross-organization test automation solution for the BlackBerry Handheld device. Mark presents on test automation topics at various conferences including the KWSQA, QAI and SQE Star East conferences.
Paul Carvalho
Paul Carvalho is a fun-loving tester who enjoys learning, sharing ideas and especially breaking software. Paul has over 16 years experience in the Software Industry, with notable roles in Programming, Testing, Support, Coaching and Test Management. Paul is currently the Director of QA at Covarity in Kitchener, where he implemented and leads the Exploratory Testing and SBTM efforts to complement the Agile Development methodologies in place.
Paul's interest in Test Automation grew out of a need to find a way to have computers 'test' applications in a way that complemented the way he tests software. Since there are no 'scripted' tests in Exploratory Testing, Paul seeks out and develops automation frameworks and paradigms that employ test techniques that provide useful information without following pre-programmed paths in the software.
Paul welcomes opportunities to speak locally and abroad on topics related to testing. You can find past presentations, testing resources and other distracting information on his web site: http://www.staqs.com.
Fiona CharlesFiona Charles is a Toronto-based test project manager and consultant. With 30 years experience in software development and integration projects, she has managed testing and consulted on testing on many projects for clients in retail, banking, financial services, health care, and telecommunications.
Through her company, Quality Intelligence, Fiona works with clients to design and implement pragmatic testing and test management practices that match their unique business challenges.
Fiona is on the board of the Toronto Association of Systems and Software Quality, and co-founder and organizer of the Toronto Workshop for Software Testing, an annual invitational conference for senior test practitioners. She edited The Gift of Time (Dorset House, 2008), is a frequent contributor to StickyMinds.com and Better Software magazine, and presents regularly on testing and test management topics at conferences. Contact Fiona via her website: www.quality-intelligence.com.
Neil Price-Jones
Neil founded NVP Software Testing in 1993. Neil has a M.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Guelph and his MBA from York University. He is currently working toward a PhD in Mathematics. Neil has been working in the Quality Assurance industry for 22 years. Prior to establishing NVP, Neil worked in the testing departments of several major banks and a software development company. Neil is a regular speaker at National and International conferences and faithfully attends profession-related meetings.
Sam Mathi
Sam Mathi is a Software Engineer with over 25 years experience in software development, as a Senior Developer, Test Manager and now Test Automation Consultant, Sam holds an Engineering Degree from the University of Waterloo and has worked with the HP Mercury tools since 1996. Sam has worked on numerous test automation projects in dozens of industries throughout Canada and the United States.
Scott McKnight
Scott McKnight is a Quality Assurance Manager currently specializing in business solutions at Open Text. Scott joined Open Text in October 1996 as a Quality Assurance Analyst and spent his first 6 years testing the searching and indexing technologies within Livelink. Scott started on a management track in 2002 and has worked in multiple functional areas and in teams of varying sizes since that time. Scott has experience working with various software development and testing methodologies and is always looking to expand on this experience.
Debra Forsyth
Debra is the Quality Assurance Practice Lead and a Senior QA Consultant with ObjectSharp Consulting. As QA Practice Lead, Debra is an experienced Visual Studio Team System and Test Edition instructor and consultant, providing training and support to clients. Debra is skilled in the design and execution of comprehensive Quality Assurance processes/procedures, with proven qualifications in test life cycle, strategy/plan, case/data design, risk assessment, functional/performance automated tools implementation, environment set up, defect and configuration management. As well Debra has a Computer Programming Certificate from Sheridan College, and is experienced with IBM/Rational Test Suite and Compuware products. Debra currently participates in Microsoft’s Inner Circle meetings for all Visual Studio Team System Edition for Tester’s related products.
Dave Lloyd
Dave Lloyd is a senior partner and co-founder of ObjectSharp. He has over 20 years experience in the IT industry designing and building software solutions for a large number of clients in varying industies. Dave is skilled in the Architecture, Design and Development of Databases and Distributed Applications. Dave also brings to the table over 17 years of teaching experience. Dave has taught classes including Development, Test Methodology and Configuration Management.
Selena Delesie
Selena is a Waterloo-based test manager and coach. With 7 years experience in leading, managing, motivating, and mentoring test teams, she finds appropriate solutions for test management challenges with hands-on software test and project management expertise. Selena enjoys working with a variety of test methodologies, solving technical-people-process challenges, coaching and empowering people for success, and working with others to create a vision and drive it to success and completion. Having been on the KWSQA board for three years, she continues her role from last season as the KWSQA President/Chair. Selena has worked on a variety of projects in wireless, mobile, media, telematics, web services, billing, and speech technologies. She is currently the Software Test Manager at Intelligent Mechatronic Systems in Waterloo.
Jeremy Kominar
Jeremy Kominar has over 6 years experience in Software Quality Assurance. His studies at the University of Guelph have allowed him to combine two diverse fields, Computer Science and Fine Arts, in his approach to testing. At Research in Motion Limited, Jeremy currently leads a team of security software testers responsible for quality of BlackBerry® Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) software components. Jeremy’s tenure at RIM and experiences in the industry has exposed him to many testing processes and paradigms that he leverages within his team. In his spare time, Jeremy practices his prestidigitation and other acts of adroitness.
Adam Goucher
Adam Goucher has been testing software professionally for over ten years. In that time he has worked with start-ups, large multi-nationals and ones in between. Currently he is the Manager of Quality at Zerofootprint Software, a carbon calculation and offsetting organization. He also teaches testing at a Toronto technical school and is an active member of the Association for Software Testing. Contact Adam through his website: adam.goucher.ca.
Mark Meninger
Mostly self-taught, Mark Meninger has been working in various software testing capacities since 1999. Mark has had designing, developing and implementing test automation solutions for the past 5 years. Mark is currently Automation and Security Testing Manager of the SV&V Handheld team at Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry™. Mark’s responsibility is to help implement a cross-organization test automation solution for the BlackBerry Handheld device. Mark presents on test automation topics at various conferences including the KWSQA, QAI and SQE Star East conferences.
Paul Carvalho
Paul Carvalho is a fun-loving tester who enjoys learning, sharing ideas and especially breaking software. Paul has over 16 years experience in the Software Industry, with notable roles in Programming, Testing, Support, Coaching and Test Management. Paul is currently the Director of QA at Covarity in Kitchener, where he implemented and leads the Exploratory Testing and SBTM efforts to complement the Agile Development methodologies in place.
Paul's interest in Test Automation grew out of a need to find a way to have computers 'test' applications in a way that complemented the way he tests software. Since there are no 'scripted' tests in Exploratory Testing, Paul seeks out and develops automation frameworks and paradigms that employ test techniques that provide useful information without following pre-programmed paths in the software.
Paul welcomes opportunities to speak locally and abroad on topics related to testing. You can find past presentations, testing resources and other distracting information on his web site: http://www.staqs.com.
What previous attendees had to say . . .
The Targeting Quality Conference was a success!
See You Next Year!
See You Next Year!
KWSQA MAILBOX
55 Northfield Drive East
Suite #188
Waterloo, Ontario
N2K 3T6
55 Northfield Drive East
Suite #188
Waterloo, Ontario
N2K 3T6
The KWSQA Would Like To Thank Our Conference Sponsors
